February 22, 2013

It's Free!

As anyone knows who has seen me scarf up 20,000 calories worth of junk food samples at Costco, I am very fond of stuff that is Free. Often my lusting after Free leads to poor choices, but sometimes, free is good!


For others who like Free, I wanted to pass along a link for a free 12 week lecture series on self acceptance by some of the rockstars of evidence-based personal growth. Hosted by Sounds True, the Self-Acceptance Project has presentations by folks like the awesome Brené Brown, my geek-crush Rick Hanson, Harville Hendricks, Kelly McGonigal... the list goes on and on and on.

And yeah, the skeptical cranky part of me still cringes a bit inwardly at enthusiastic advice to embrace "Self-Acceptance" or to "Love Ourselves" or "To Be Our Own Best Friends" or whatever.  In fact, I couldn't help noticing that the acronym for this series is "SAP."

But wait, what the hell is that about?  It's better that we should all go around feeling crappy about ourselves?

I'm finally getting it that those of us who tend to feel reflexively barfy when we encounter the earnest vocabulary of self-improvement often miss out on cool stuff. So I'm gonna try to suck it up and watch some of these myself; anyone else?

Oh, and a couple more things to alert you to, including a link I couldn't stop laughing at...

First off, speaking of Sounds True: I like 'em enough that I signed up to be an affiliate, though I haven't done anything other than put a small ad at the bottom of the page that no one has ever clicked on.  Anyway, in the spirit of full disclosure, I theoretically could profit by letting you know about a couple of courses coming up, but I'm actually just excited about them. But, um, if you wanna try clicking the banner below and shopping from there and seeing if it gets you $10 bucks off, we could test drive this thang.

Sounds True

Anyway, first up, Rick Hanson's Enlightened Brain interactive online course is happening again, for those of you who recall me gushing about it in the Enlightened Brain Review.  And BrenĂ© Brown has a new course too called The Power of Vulnerability.  I haven't taken it, but as it happens, recently two different people sent me a link to one of her Ted Talks from 2010 within the space of a few hours. Which was either a weird coincidence or perhaps a nudge from the universe that I'm either oozing too much or not enough vulnerability and either way could perhaps benefit from putting a little freakin' Power behind it.

Brene is a great speaker and the Ted talk had me smitten.




And finally, here's a totally unrelated hilarious link for Downton Abbey fans. But warning: DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU ARE UP TO DATE.  It's a spoiler-filled FaceBook recap of the last Downton Abbey Episode. Bonus: the link is not actually on Facebook so you don't need to be signed up to read it.



Have a great weekend!!

21 comments:

  1. brene brown is one of my hero-rolemodels! and really funny to listen to. thanks for the info!!
    my first cranketeermonth sucked in a major way: drama all over from getting fired to locking myself out of the appartement to pms induced foodcoma! the good thing is that falling down on your butt kinda makes you want to get up again soon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh sorry Puja about the frustrating month! And wow, that's an impressive list of suckage.

      Well, as a brene fan, sounds like you have lots of vulnerability to embrace!

      Delete
  2. So I clicked and looked around. Some interesting products on offer, but I'm not in the mood to buy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by Leah, and yeah, some days are definitely just window shopping days!

      Delete
  3. I have to admit I get easily tempted to buy because of some free products attached. Such a bad habit I know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But a very common one Sarah! Thus the great success of the Infomercial.

      Delete
  4. Hitting the balance between accepting where you are and wanting to move on is what i'm aiming for.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good idea messymimi; and hey, can we do both at the same time? I think that's what I'm shooting for too!

      Delete
  5. I'm another one who finds overly earnest enthusiasm a bit cringe-worthy, but I agree it's worth trying to see past it. Sometimes...

    I was actually going to sign up to this, but then I realised that I already have a huge backlog of very worthy e-books, TED talks and the like which I'd like to get round to but probably never will, so it seems my self-esteem will probably benefit more from not adding to the guilt pile. #8-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Shadowduck, I so know the feeling. Always a struggle to think of all this free stuff as an Opportunity and not an Obligation! 'Cause yeah, can be kinda self-defeating on the self-esteem front.

      Delete
  6. Brene' has this quote on her one of her blog posts: "I know I'll be happier as a blind fool than as a clairvoyant apocalyptic." It's from a journal from Paper Source called "Its Gonna Be Okay Journal".
    1) I want that journal. and
    2) I'm embracing that quote.
    Have a great weekend!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks you Theresa, I love that quote!!

      And I have a long history as a clairvoyant apocalyptic so it's taken some rewiring, but gotta say, am quite taken with my new rose colored glasses.

      Delete
    2. Where do apocalyptic fools fit in? Just asking ... for a friend, you understand ...

      Delete
  7. I think it is great that you signed as an affiliate. I did the same with Designer Whey. It is all about if we like them enough to do that & I see nothing wrong with it & making a little money if you can....

    I will check it out.. not sure a buy for me although I could use it but certainly will look at it! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jody, I kinda crack myself up with this blog monetizing stuff... every now and then I sign up for an affiliate program, but it's gotta be something I personally endorse (unless it's just a straight-up sponsored Ad, for some reason I don't have the same standards for those) and I NEVER EVER make any money! So I delete 'em off again. Yet hope springs eternal.

      Delete
  8. When in med school in the northeast (;-() I used to say hello to strangers while running near the river trails. Most would ignore my southern friendliness. At the time I felt that we all had an opportunity for free happiness, as in "when I see you my friend, it's like a rainbow coming round the bend."

    Pity...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm a smiler-at-strangers too, Dr. J, and no one can stop us! I used to feel slightly embarrassed by unreturned smiles but I don't give a crap anymore and just grin away.

      Delete
  9. Brene Brown is one of those people that really inspires me and I love to listen to. I will never forget one of her quotes:

    "You either walk inside your story and own it or you stand outside your story & hustle for your worthiness"

    This is so true and I have tried to apply this to myself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Joanne, another great quote! I love it that even though I don't know all that much about her work yet, I'm getting some "greatest hits" through generous blog commenters sharing their faves. Really appreciate it!

      Delete
    2. Joanne, what a great quote! Thank you for sharing it here. I love it.

      Delete

Thanks for commenting, Cranky Fitness readers are the BEST!

Subscribe to comments via RSS

(Note: Older Comment Threads Are Moderated)